Heat Awareness in Manufacturing Facilities

December 22, 2023September 25, 2026Heat Aware Heat Awareness Tips, Heat Safety, Heat-related illnesses

The Importance of Heat Awareness in Manufacturing Facilities

Heat illnesses and injuries are on the rise in the U.S., and this trend is also true of indoor workers. Shielded from outdoor heat exposure, it’s common for employers to overlook the importance of heat awareness in manufacturing facilities.

Given the severe, potentially fatal nature of heat illness, employers are required to take measures in preventing and responding to heat illnesses experienced by their employees.

Regulators are Emphasizing Improved Heat Awareness and Safety in Manufacturing Facilities

According to the EPA, the number of heat waves (defined by a four-day stretch of high temperatures above the 10-year average) has tripled since 1990. Unsurprisingly, heat injuries and illnesses have climbed alongside this trend, leading OSHA to begin discussions about national heat safety standards.

There are early signs that OSHA is getting tougher in this regard. In October 2021, the administration published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) – the first public step that OSHA takes before implementing new safety standards. The October 2021 ANPRM was specific to outdoor and indoor heat hazards, so it’s clearly an OSHA priority.

In April 2022, OSHA enacted a National Emphasis Program (NEP) that included three participating states – California, Minnesota, and Washington. The NEP is a three-year program that gives OSHA authority to perform on-the-spot workplace inspections for heat hazards. OSHA has inspected more than 1,500 businesses already in this fashion, and the resulting information will be used to further develop heat safety standards.

In the most recent update in November 2023, OSHA surveyed small businesses and interfaced with small business advocacy groups to gain further insight into heat safety implementation.

While it’s true that government maneuvers can take a long time to realize, there are clear signs that OSHA will launch new heat safety standards in the near future.

Common Heat Hazards in Manufacturing Facilities

OSHA’s interest in heat safety extends indoors as there are several hazards specific to manufacturing facilities and industrial centers. Heat-related risks may be elevated among employees working indoors, especially if the following factors are present:

Heat generating equipment and machinery – Milling machines, turning machines, presses and grinders all output significant amounts of heat that spills into the environment and puts workers at risk of heat illness. If the equipment is poorly insulated, it can cause an immediate heat hazard around the machinery’s operating area.
Other radiant heat sources – Other sources of radiant heat in manufacturing facilities include ovens, furnaces, and kilns. Each can output intense levels of thermal energy, requiring workers to don protective gear that increases heat risks.
Lack of air movement – Air circulation is essential for venting heat out of the facility and preserving safe working environments. In manufacturing centers, strategic fan and HVAC vent placement will help circulate cooler air through the facility. In warehouses, hangars, and other large industrial centers, opening up a large bay door can promote better air circulation.
Constant physical labor – Modern manufacturing facilities rely on automation to an extent, but there is still plenty of manual labor happening. With workers in constant motion, exertion-related heat must be factored in. If your employees do a lot of lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying, your facilities will need measures in place to offset that additional thermal output.
Heavy protective clothing – Personal protective equipment (PPE) may include heavy clothing that traps heat, causing the worker’s body temperature to rise, even if they’re standing in one spot. If there are other hazards at your facilities that demand safety wear, consider the additional thermal burden on employees.
Exposure to sunlight – Sunlight means heat, so if it’s cascading in through windows or open doors, your facilities will have additional thermal energy to contend with. It’s easy to dismiss a patch of sunlight here or there in a manufacturing facility, but it can be a threat if additional heat risks are present, like poor air circulation or heavy protective wear.

These hazards are in addition to extreme outdoor temperatures, which can also influence the relative heat levels inside buildings. Clearly, there are several heat-related risk factors to account for, but there are steps employers can take to lower the risk of heat illness affecting their employees.

How to Improve Heat Awareness in Manufacturing Facilities

The key to preventing heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and other heat illnesses is awareness. If workers are aware of heat stress symptoms and dangers, they can take the appropriate action before a situation becomes critical. Here is what employers can do to improve heat awareness in manufacturing facilities:

Developing a heat illness prevention plan – Every workplace must have a safety plan in place per OSHA regulations. With the level of heat danger and heat fatalities on the rise, employers are also encouraged to develop a heat-specific safety plan that tackles heat illnesses specifically.

This plan should include everything else on this list, as well as the plan’s training and implementation procedures.

Training each worker on the plan’s details – Every employee should undergo heat safety training, using the procedures and practices derived from your heat safety plan. Training typically includes pointing out heat hazards, noticing the symptoms of heat illness, the location and use of all heat safety resources (such as water or cooling stations), and emergency procedures should severe heat illness occur.
Identifying where heat hazards are likely to emerge – All heat safety plans should point out the location and nature of any heat hazards present at the facility. Consider including maps and floor plans to assist with this communication to facility staff and visitors.
Keeping an eye on environmental conditions – Working conditions can change quickly, so it’s important for your staff to monitor temperatures in real time. As environmental conditions change, your heat safety plan may call for additional measures, such as implementing work rotations or mandatory cooling breaks.
Investing in heat safety resources – An inexpensive and effective way to track temperature is to provide employees with liquid crystal thermometers (LCTs). LCTs are accurate within a degree or two and can provide a reading within seconds. The thermometers are practically weightless and can be scaled down to fit into a TWIC card or something similar. With LCT-integrated TWIC cards, your workers can wear their temperature-tracking tool on a lanyard or place it in a pocket.

Additional heat safety resources include heat safety signage, which is used to point out high-risk areas, first aid stations, showers, and other points of interest when a heat emergency develops. Posted signage keeps that information in front of workers at the moment they need it, which is what makes it useful on a plant floor where conditions change through the shift.

Develop heat emergency protocols – Even with robust prevention methods in place, heat illness remains a threat to industrial workers. A heat safety plan should formalize any emergency response to optimize response time and effectiveness.

Emergency measures typically include moving the worker to a cool area, applying cool water or towels to the skin of the affected employee, administering fluids if possible, and contacting emergency medical personnel right away. It’s standard practice for a heat safety plan to include contact information for a nearby hospital or medical facility.

Heat Awareness in Manufacturing Facilities Can Save Lives

Heat illnesses and fatalities are becoming more common for workers across many industries and in many work settings. This includes indoor work settings like manufacturing facilities.

It’s a common but potentially costly mistake for facility operators to discount the severity of potential heat hazards, but there can be fatal consequences.

A proven approach to undercutting those hazards is preparation. Specifically, preparing workers with heat-specific training and resources. LCTs and safety signage are two examples of budget-friendly items that can boost heat awareness and safety in manufacturing facilities. Speak with your heat-aware specialist to see how you can protect your employees.

Why Heat Awareness is Essential for Occupational Safety Managers

September 22, 2023September 25, 2026Heat Aware Heat Awareness Tips, Heat Hazards, Heat Safety

Heat-related deaths are reaching new heights in the U.S., in part due to rising temperatures. Intense heat exposure also threatens workers, but they have more to contend with than environmental heat. Exertion-related heat should be considered, as well as heavy work clothing.

For occupational safety managers, these factors must be accounted for, as they can add up to serious heat illnesses like heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

When Temperatures Rise, Heat Awareness Should As Well

Many work settings can be characterized as a thermal energy-rich environment. Construction sites, manufacturing facilities, outdoor warehouses and quarries are just a few examples of such worksites, but excess heat exposure can occur anywhere – even in office buildings.

Wherever heat hazards do emerge, heat illnesses are sure to follow if safety managers don’t take the proper precautions. These illnesses can manifest in one of several forms – heat rash is an example. For safety managers, though, the principal concerns are heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

Heat exhaustion and stroke share many of the same symptoms, including mental symptoms such as confusion, altered mood, slurred speech, dizziness, or loss of consciousness. Both heat illnesses require immediate intervention, but heat stroke is a medical emergency that can leave workers permanently, perhaps fatally injured.

Heat Stress is Dangerous for Workers and Costly for Companies

Dozens of workers are killed by excess occupational heat every year, and thousands more are injured. The human cost of lax heat safety measures is severe, even when taking fatalities out of the equation.

Heat-related injuries can leave workers unable to recapture their prior productivity. According to the World Health Organization, about 2 percent of all working hours every year are lost due to heat stress – a huge bite that makes heat one of the country’s biggest productivity sieves.

For employers, protecting worker health is of paramount importance. What’s also important is ensuring production benchmarks are hit. Heat hazards can get in the way of that, but occupational safety managers can mitigate heat dangers if they maintain awareness of heat hazards and implement safety measures to mitigate them.

How Occupational Safety Managers Can Protect Employees from Heat-related Injury

Heat is dangerous, in part, because it is insidious. It slowly increases in intensity until it’s enough to overtake workers. The only way to protect against this subtle, creeping danger is with vigilance. If everyone at the worksite, including safety managers, are committed to spotting and mitigating heat risks, then it will be easier to protect employees – and easier to respond to a heat emergency if one does arise.

Occupational safety managers are largely responsible for establishing heat awareness and establishing risk-reduction initiatives. Such initiatives may include:

Developing a heat-specific safety plan – OSHA requires employers to have a site safety plan that addresses all risks at the worksite. This general safety plan is designed to cover all hazards, but there’s nothing stopping employers from developing hazard-specific safety plans to better mitigate the most prevalent or dangerous concerns.
At worksites where heat exposure is an ever-present threat, a heat-specific safety plan makes sense. Inside a heat-specific plan, safety managers can identify where heat hazards are the most severe and what managers can do to protect against them. This includes pointing out vital resources (first aid stations, showers, etc.), splitting workers and safety managers into working groups for accountability purposes, and listing out emergency procedures should a worker experience heat illness.
Organizing heat safety training prior to the project’s start – Safety managers are responsible for keeping all employees and supervisory personnel on the same page regarding safety. This is also true of heat safety, and the best way to ensure this preparedness is with adequate pre-project training.
Heat training doesn’t need to be complicated or last long – it merely needs to reinforce heat risk mitigation procedures. The value here is boosting heat awareness among workers and managers so everyone is prepared in the event of an emergency.
Assessing risk on a worker-by-worker basis – People respond to heat exposure differently, and this varied response should be accounted for so the most vulnerable workers can be properly protected.
Age, fitness level, overall health, experience, and role all factor into a worker’s vulnerability to heat. Prior to beginning work, these factors should be taken into consideration for each worker, so safety-first work rotations and break patterns can be established.
Acclimating workers during the project’s early phases – The majority of heat-related worker deaths and injuries occur in the first couple weeks of a project’s start. If employees aren’t given time to adjust to hot conditions, they are far more likely to be overwhelmed by the heat. For this reason, it’s highly recommended that safety managers slowly ramp up work activity over several days, giving workers plenty of breaks and limiting exertion during this period.
Ensuring workers have heat monitoring resources on them – One of the best ways to ensure workplace safety is to give workers access to temperature taking tools. As the people on the front lines against the heat, it’s critical that workers be able to remain aware of dangerous heat indexes.
An inexpensive and reliable way to do this is with a liquid crystal thermometer (LCT). LCTs are accurate within a degree or two and can be embedded in a simple TWIC card for maximum usability. Within seconds, workers can get an updated look at ambient temperatures and take steps to protect themselves from dangerous levels of heat and humidity.
Prioritizing heat-related first aid resources – Safety managers are responsible for maintaining adequate first aid resources onsite, and at worksites where heat hazards are present, heat injury supplies should also be present. This includes the basics, such as cold compresses, ice packs and running water. Also consider electrolyte tablets for severe dehydration cases.
These supplies should be easily accessed by work crews and their location marked in the heat safety plan for quick reference.

Heat Awareness is Imperative for Workplace Safety

Heat is an ever-present killer during the summer months, so occupational safety managers need to remain on their guard. They also need to remain aware of heat hazards on their worksites. And beyond awareness, safety managers must be ready to respond to heat illnesses, with adequate emergency resources and to-the-minute information provided by temperature-taking tools.

A Guide to Protecting Work Crews from the Summer Heat

September 6, 2023September 25, 2026Heat Aware Heat Awareness Tips, Heat Stress, Heat-related illnesses

As numerous heat records were shattered across the U.S. in the summer of 2023, it meant that people working outside were at major risk of heat-related illnesses like heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Heat illness is an invisible, but quite capable killer that’s caused dozens of fatalities and thousands of injuries over the past several years. And it is believed that those numbers are vastly underreported, as many heat-related illnesses and deaths fall outside the purview of government regulators.

Employers are responsible for protecting their crews from heat hazards, and these protective measures must be reinforced at every level of the organization. In this guide, we’ll address what steps contractors can take to safeguard the health of their crews.

Judging Heat Conditions on Site: Don’t Focus Only on the Temperature

Elevated temperatures are an obvious heat-related danger, and as such, it’s important for supervisors to keep an eye on the thermometer. But there’s more to heat risk than temperature alone, as humidity, solar exposure, and wind speed all play a role as well.

For example, heat index values factor humidity into the equation and is therefore a useful alternative to temperature alone along the Gulf Coast, where high levels of summer humidity are expected.

Some contractors now use the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) – a metric utilized by the U.S. military for decades – that also factors in solar exposure and wind speed. In other words, WBGT is most relevant for people working in direct sunlight.

As actual, on-the-ground heat dangers vary with humidity, sun exposure and other factors, it’s recommended that contractors use heat index values to assess field conditions.

What Does OSHA Have to Say About Heat Safety?

OSHA doesn’t have heat-specific safety regulations on the books, but employers are still held to the General Duty Clause, which requires companies to identify and protect workers from any onsite hazards.

Employers can’t use “but there’s no OSHA heat safety standard” as an excuse, in other words.

The agency does have plenty of heat safety resources to draw from, though, including informational literature and tips for employers. This includes guidance on every part of the safety planning process, which can be extremely helpful for new contractors that don’t have an emergency action plan (EAP) in place.

Here are some practical tips for mitigating dangerous summer temperatures for every phase of the project.

Before the job begins: Create a Heat Safety Plan and Raise Awareness of Heat Hazards

Before mobilization, contractors should have a firm idea of the jobsite’s layout and where heat hazards are likely to emerge. For instance, if there’s a part of the site that’s exposed to dawn-to-dusk sunlight, it may be a good idea to avoid setting up any workstations in that area.

This is the kind of thinking that should be included in the project’s Emergency Action Plan (EAP). In fact, some contractors go a step further and draft a heat-specific safety plan. Given the extreme temperatures affecting some parts of the country (the south and southeast, most notably), heat-specific plans make a lot of sense. Each EAP should include the following:

The location and nature of any heat hazards on the jobsite. While trapped heat is usually a problem for interior work areas only, they can emerge on construction sites and other exterior work environments as well.
The location of any cooling stations or any air-conditioned areas. If heat illness does occur, moving the affected worker to a cool spot with shade is critical.
An inventory and location of all heat injury resources, such as cold packs, towels, and fluids.
A set of processes that specify what to do and who to contact should someone come down with heat illness.
The contact information for any nearby emergency medical institutions.

Once this plan is established, it must be communicated to all levels of leadership and to the workers themselves. Ideally, leadership and the crew would be involved in helping put together a heat safety plan. This will ensure that everyone on the team has a clear understanding of the company’s heat safety policies. Regular training, toolbox talks, and unscheduled drills are all worthy investments to ensure maximum heat safety awareness.

This training should also address what signs and symptoms of heat illness to look for, as other workers are likely to spot them first in their coworkers. They include:

Dizziness
Confusion
Slurred speech
Headache and muscle pain
Nausea and vomiting
Loss of consciousness

Invest in Tools That Monitor Heat Levels

If your workers can keep an eye on the temperature, they’ll be more aware of the heat and more likely to observe heat safety protocols.

The right tools are essential for jobsite safety, and when it comes to heat-related dangers, one such tool is a liquid crystal thermometer, as LCTs are compact, lightweight, and offer instant information about the temperature. LCTs can be encapsulated and scaled down to fit inside TWIC cards, which can be worn on a lanyard, kept in a pocket, or tossed in the toolbox. LCTs are accurate and can also include the company’s branding or additional heat safety information.

In this way, LCTs offer double advantages in safety and cost effectiveness, as they’re inexpensive to procure at volume and give workers a highly usable tool for remaining aware of the heat.

Get Workers Acclimated to the Heat and Set Up a Cooling Station

According to OSHA, about 75 percent of all heat-related deaths occur in the first week of the job. It takes time for the body to adjust to extreme heat stress, especially for people who aren’t accustomed to the climate or strenuous activity. To avoid overloading the team early on, OSHA recommends the 20 percent rule. The idea behind this is to slowly work up to full capacity in the sun over several days.

Assuming an 8-hour workday, using the 20 percent rule, workers should only spend one hour and 40 minutes (20 percent) in the sun during their first day on the project. They can spend the rest of the day working without heat stress. Every subsequent day, add another 20 percent in the sun until they’re up to full capacity. Some workers may need a bit longer to adjust, and it’s better to be safe than sorry, so allow for that time for adequate acclimation.

At the project’s outset, this is also the time to establish a cooling station. It should remain in the shade throughout the day and always have water available. Some contractors set up tents with circulating fans for additional heat relief, and if there’s an air-conditioned room they can access while cooling, even better.

Keep Safety Personnel on High Alert, Encourage Regular Breaks and Reduce Work Intensity in High Heat

During the peak of summer, there may be no relief from dangerously hot days. Where possible, shifting work to the evening or night hours is recommended, but noise ordinances may prevent this.

When work must be done during the day, being proactive is the rule. That means doing the following:

Enforcing regular water breaks. During high activity periods, giving workers a break every 15 minutes to drink fluids is recommended. Stick to water rather than caffeinated beverages.
Cycling work teams out of the sun regularly. If possible, cycling workers between sun-exposed and shaded workstations can reduce heat stress.
Occasionally taking worker vitals to spot early signs of heat stress. This should only be done by trained medical personnel.
Keeping the contact information for any medical authorities in an easily accessible place, so it can be instantly referenced in an emergency.

In general, the point is to remain on high alert while heat indexes are at their most punishing. The faster everyone responds to severe heat illness, the better the affected worker’s chances of fully recovering.

Summer Heat Can Be Fatal, but Employers Can Keep Their Team Safe with the Right Protective Measures

While summers have always been hot, recent summers have produced deadly levels of heat. For work crews, heat illnesses can emerge suddenly and may be severe, if not deadly. But with effective planning, emergency resources, cooling equipment, and a commitment to heat awareness, employers can keep their project sites and workers safe and heat injury free.

Practical Tips for Avoiding Heat Illness on the Job

July 19, 2023September 25, 2026Heat Aware Heat Awareness Tips, Heat Safety, Heat-related illnesses Comment

The U.S. Department of Labor states that occupational heat illnesses are widely under-reported. And yet, dozens of workers die every year from heat stroke and thousands more are seriously injured. What’s worse is that almost every single one of those heat injuries would’ve been preventable with effective safety measures in place.

Those measures aren’t difficult to establish, however, and there are low-cost, high impact resources that can help support a safe workplace.

Here are five examples of practical tips for avoiding heat illness on the job:

1) Know the Signs and Symptoms of Heat Illnesses

Before heat illnesses progress to potentially fatal emergencies, there are usually noticeable signs of distress that others can respond to. Heat exhaustion, for example, typically presents prior to heat stroke, but it may progress to heat stroke within minutes. It’s therefore critical that safety personnel and workers know what signs to respond to.

The symptoms of heat illness are:

Heavy sweating or complete lack of it
Elevated body temperature
Fatigue and weakness
Confusion
Headaches
Dizziness
Weak, racing pulse
Nausea and vomiting
Agitation
In severe instances, loss of consciousness may also be present

Sometimes, the above symptoms may come on quickly, but in many cases, the affected worker will demonstrate tell-tale signs in time to administer treatment. If provided promptly, treatment can stop minor heat illnesses from developing into something more serious.

That’s why everyone shares responsibility for detecting heat illness on the worksite. That includes the workers themselves, as they know their coworkers best and are usually right there when heat dangers are at their most intense.

2) Develop and Implement a Heat-Specific Safety Plan

According to OSHA regulations, every worksite is expected to have an emergency action plan (EAP) in place. At a minimum, the EAP must include:

The location of emergency exits and exit routes. These should be mapped onto a floorplan of the worksite.
What medical or fire authorities to contact in the event of an emergency.
How to alert employees when an emergency is in progress and how to contact family or next of kin, as well.

From OSHA’s perspective, that’s sufficient for an EAP, but employers overseeing hazardous worksites are expected to go a bit further with their safety planning. And on sites where dangerous levels of heat are expected, it makes sense for employers to develop a heat-specific safety plan. Such a plan should include the following:

The location and nature of any heat-related hazards on the job site. In areas like cement plants, mills, foundries, fabrication plants and other industrial centers, heat may concentrate in spots to the point where it results in hazardous conditions.
A series of procedures to be deployed should a heat-related emergency occur.
What processes are in place to monitor and mitigate any heat hazards.
An inventory of all heat-related medical resources and their locations on the worksite.
Contact information for a nearby emergency medical facility. Time is critical when treating heat illness, as it may only take minutes for symptoms to progress to something life-threatening. If heat stroke does occur, contacting the medical facility on file should be one of the first measures taken.

3) Ensure Onsite Safety Personnel are Prioritizing Heat Hazards

A heat safety plan is only effective if it’s implemented and practice drills are performed periodically. That’s where the company’s leadership must take charge. This starts with top-level management, but every link in the leadership chain, down to onsite safety and medical personnel should be on the same page regarding how to manage heat risks.

For example, when elevated temperatures are present, onsite medical personnel should regularly check worker vitals, including body temperature and pulse, to detect the early signs of heat illness. Safety personnel should also consider altering work practices when the heat and humidity is higher, such as rotating crews in and out of shade, enforcing water breaks and switching to light duty.

Maintaining safe conditions means being proactive, and this responsibility falls to the company’s management, and who it empowers to ensure safety.

4) Give Crews the Tools Needed to Monitor Temperatures

Safety planning and training are critical for reducing the risk of heat illness. Another important piece of the heat safety puzzle – investing in heat monitoring tools that workers can use in the field. After all, your field workers deal with the worst effects of heat exposure, so empowering them with better information can save lives. Even better, many of these resources are simple to use and inexpensive to invest in.

For example, many contractors provide their workers with TWIC cards that house liquid crystal thermometers that use thermochromic liquid crystals (TLCs) to measure heat levels. When exposed to heat, TLCs alter their orientation and physical structure – which also changes their optical qualities. In other words, TLCs change color with changing temperatures, and TWIC cards can be designed with microencapsulated pockets of these TLCs, so workers have a reliable, simple-to-use thermometer always on hand.

TWIC cards are inexpensive per unit and are extremely cost effective when purchased in volume. Contractors can therefore outfit their entire crew with temperature-taking equipment and safeguard them, without stressing the project’s budget.

5) Give Crews the Resources They Need to Treat Heat Illness

With heat illness, the best defense is preparation. That means preparing work crews for what to do if a heat-related emergency does occur. That includes the following:

Setting up a “cooldown area” that has shade and fluids for workers to drink. If a worker starts showing signs of heat exhaustion, they can stay out of the sun and rest here. Consider adding fans to circulate air through the area.
Identifying all sources of running water at the job site and ensuring this water can be accessed if a worker does experience heat illness.
Keeping a modest store of emergency heat illness supplies on hand, including towels, electrolyte tablets and ice packs.
Drilling workers on what to do if someone gives in to heat stress. This includes applying cold packs or water to the affected worker, contacting emergency personnel right away, and moving the person to a cooler environment.

By preparing for the worst-case scenario, workers can respond appropriately when heat illness occurs and potentially avoid a fatal outcome.

Heat Illnesses Can Cause Serious, Even Fatal Injury, So Provide the Tools Necessary to Keep Your Crews Safe

Heat can be a killer, and at some projects sites it’s also impossible to avoid. However, there are plenty of ways that contractors and work teams can mitigate the risk of heat illness.

Much of this boils down to preparedness, as heat illnesses can be treated and reversed with prompt action. As such, it’s important for contractors to have safety measures in place to respond when heat exhaustion or stroke does occur. And it’s also important for workers to have the temperature-taking tools they need to keep a close eye on heat levels. In this way, everyone from top leadership to field workers can remain safe and aware of the heat.